GSU Student Material

Rockwell's Rules of Slotting

Rules of Thumb for Early Slotting/By David Rockwell

In our Anti-Cruelty Society Invitational earlier this year, David and
Scott Casty had some time to kill between matches. Scott was waiting to
play in the finals, which he won, but just to show you how smart Scott really
is, rather than sit around gossiping with David, he picked David’s brain
about some important aspects of the game.

Scott asked David (who just happens to be one of the better players and
thinkers in the game) about an aspect of the game he wasn’t quite sure
about. When to slot and when not to slot early in the game.

Scott told David he understood it was right to slot your 5 point on the
opening roll with 2-1, but what about the second roll. Essentially,
here is what David told Scott, and it’s a great lesson for all of us:

When you roll 21, 41 or 51 on the second move, you are behind in the race
- no matter what the opener rolled.

When you roll 41 or 51 on the opening roll, you are leading the
race. (Opener is losing the race after an opening 21 roll.)

The race isn't the only factor of course, but it is important.
The fundamental is - slot when behind, split when ahead.

You don't want to risk losing your racing lead if you have one. When
you are behind in the race, you don't have as much to lose by being
hit. Racing isn't your primary game plan anyway. One needs to
consider everything else happening on the board. For example,
duplication often is relevant to the slotting decision. If opponent’s
hitting fours already play well, it gives you motivation to slot. But,
keep your eye on the race too.

So, you almost always slot with an ace (21, 41 & 51) on the
second roll unless:

1. your opponent has split the back checkers (too many shots)

2. your opponent has made an inner board point.(adverse to a
hitting contest while out-boarded and need to get the back checkers moving to
counter the priming threat)

There are only a handful of exceptions to this. Rather than list
them, I think it is better to learn the rule first and learn the
exceptions at a later date.

I think the majority of otherwise strong players follow the rule - When in
doubt, split. A better rule (empahsis - on the 2nd roll) would
be, when in doubt, slot